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Lost Limbs during pandemic due to podiatry appointments cancelled

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Tankgirl1981

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi . I am fairly new to this forum but I have a burning question that maybe some of you could answer. Just before covid happened I was due to attend my scheduled Podiatry appointment, which is so important to me as I frequently run .
Since the pandemic I have tried to get hold of my department but each time I have no luck at all .
My friends daughter approached me the other day and reminded me as she is doing a study in University about diabetic patients that have recently lost limbs in the last year due to the terrible situation of not having healthcare for feet . I was left wondering what on earth is going on ?
Has anyone experienced this or had to loose a limb due to Podiatry appointments being cancelled ?.
 
Hi @Tankgirl1981 and welcome

From my experience of previously attending a high risk podiatry clinic every 6/7 weeks my clinics stopped in March ‘20 and haven’t restarted. I’ve been told to have an amputation but have chosen to try and keep my leg for as long as possible and the clinics were helping me do this - my issue is non healing fractures rather than circulation.

I’ve had an NHS podiatry phone appointment every 4 months to ask how things are going and to be given the emergency number if something goes wrong. I’ve paid for private podiatry every 6 weeks to try and keep my skin & leg intact. I needed one emergency NHS appt last summer when I had a splinter in my foot- that was picked up by private podiatry thank goodness.

Without private podiatry I don’t know where I’d be. I imagine I could well have ended up in hospital with a foot infection or worse.

It does seem to be a lottery around the country where some areas have podiatry clinics running and others like mine have no clinics running and only emergency services. I’m sure some people will have lost limbs due to no podiatry clinics or problems that need rapid treatment being left unchecked.

I hope things improve and clinics restart as it is a very worrying situation to be in with the potential outcome being very serious.
 
I really hope the routine clinics and appointments, especially for those at greater risk can be restarted without delay.

It’s a long time for services to have stopped!
 
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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
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